More disturbing than the Lakers falling another game behind the San Antonio Spurs for the number one seed in the Western Conference playoffs is the fact that a similar demon appeared in yesterday's loss to the rejuvenated Denver Nuggets: the ability for the Laker offense to disappear for half a quarter at a time.

Yesterday it was during the fourth quarter when turnover was followed by ill-advised shot, which was then followed by an inexplicable inability to box out and grab a rebound when it was needed most.

And let's not forget the refs, commonly referred to by this observer as "Three Blind Mice", giving the Nuggets an extra three points when they botched the possession call on center Andrew Bynum's block of a Timofey Mozgov dunk. The ball clearly belonged to the Lakers, but the refs somehow saw otherwise and on the ensuing possession, Raymond Felton gets a three-point-play.

Side note: everyone thought Chauncey Billups was the unsung asset in that Carmelo Anthony deal. Wrong. It was Felton.

The Lakers missed an opportunity to keep the heat on the Spurs (no pun intended), and what's worse: the fourth quarter was not a display of April basketball.

Especially not for the defending champs.

Pretty nifty triple play here, in case you missed it:

For those of you who have never played first base before, that shows an incredible jump on the ball to be able to dive and catch that bunt in the air.

It still blows my mind that both runners couldn't get back to the bag in time. Nice defense, incredibly bad baserunning.

The NCAA Men's Basketball Championship is tonight, which means I better take a nap this afternoon if I'm planning on staying up to watch the 9:23 PM tip.

9:23 PM??!? Maybe it's a sign I'm getting old, but such a late start is even more boneheaded from a PR standpoint than the ridiculous late starts in the baseball playoffs. From a TV ratings perspective, it's a gamble given that a small school is in the game and will not garner much interest from less than die hard fans.

Although I personally love the small school angle. It's really chopped down my argument that expanding the tournament would be bad. Maybe small schools would still get pile-driven into the proverbial concrete, but can you really say you're against more VCU's wreaking havoc in the tournament?

My pick, by the way, is Butler. For no other reasons than I consistently picked against them in this tournament and they proved me wrong every step of the way. Also, I want the small school to turn the world on its kiester and hoist that trophy.

Of course, this means that you should run- not walk- to your local betting establishment and throw all the money you can on UConn.